Rosa's Big Bag O' Fun
by Freida Right
Summary: Rosa, the twins, a bunch of small children, and several jars of glitter. It's a sure recipe for disaster... But maybe, not so much so. For the By Darkness And Light Cast Aloft community's Spring Fic-A-Thon.


Here you go, myths, because I promised glitter-related hilarity. Clearly, too much time is spent on Pinterest at my house. XD

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_Rosa's Big Bag O' Fun_

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It was almost time for the Light Warrior's yearly reunion, and Rosa was excited for one reason: her other yearly tradition, of an afternoon spent in crafty, creative fun with all the children. It had initially begun as a means to keep fidgety, easily distracted Palom and Porom occupied during long hours of delegation of adult conversation; but over the past several years, it had become the only reason they still attended the convention.

Rosa always looked forward to it, as well. She had been very crafty as a child, because not having something to do with her hands used to make her anxious. There was a time when she had carried several skeins of yarn and various knitting, crochet, and embroidery needles with her everywhere she went; and her friends had never lacked for beautiful, clever presents. Growing up had robbed her of the free time to work with her hands. The duties of being a queen further ate up her free time.

Now, she found a chance to be crafty again for one whole day every year, venting all her creativity on lists of projects she could engage the twins with. She had taught them to knit one year-a skill that Palom had underestimated, but now secretly enjoyed whenever he had a few minutes. (He had even sent her a scarf of silk yarn for her brithday once, though he refused to publicly claim credit for it.)

As they had grown, the crafts she brought for them had changed considerably. They had begun making animals out of sticks, twine and glue-the type of project that seven year olds could complete with little frustration, that their mother would appreciate forever. In more recent years, they had graduated to more involved projects involving paint, and patterns, and finished projects they could appreciate and use every day. The previous year, they had made stamps out of potatoes and made their own stationary sets; every time she relieved a letter from one of them, it was on the homemade, hand-stamped paper they had made. It never failed to make her smile.

This year, she had loaded her bag of tricks with a tool she thought she could finally trust them with: several jars of fine glitter, in a menagerie of colors. In particular, she made sure there was plenty of green for Porom, and plenty of red for Palom. She had waited a long time to let them near the stuff, but they were 13 this year. It was time they had more responsibilities. She was also bringing lots of glue, and things they could cover in their glitter. She had also made sure that they would make useful things, that even Palom would appreciate. Ooh, she had come up with so many fun projects...

Mysida was volunteering to host the reunion this year, and it was bound to be a big year for the big bag of fun. Most of the royal children were old enough to participate in her crafts; and the dwarves were able to come this year, so princess Luca would be joining them, too. Aside from glitter, Rosa had also made sure to include some of the simple fall-backs: sticks and twine and glue, colored pencils and paper, and scissors that she and Rydia would have to be in charge of.

Rydia had always insisted on participating in the crafts, as well. She made an excellent assistant, and usually brought a thing or two to the table, herself. Once, after a few years spent as Eblan's queen, she had taught them all the art of oragami. Another time, she had brought cherry branches with her, which they had glued to canvas and surrounded with fingerprint cherry blossoms. What might she have to share, this year...?

Craft day was always the day in the middle of the reunion week, by the time the kings were deepest in kingly, boring discussion, and the children were wishing to go home, already. That afternoon, Rosa and Rydia rounded all the children up and herded them into a different room they had staked out. The congregation was significantly bigger, this year; they were glad that Luca and the twins were willing to help with the herding.

"I've been looking forward to this," Luca commented. "I had so much fun last time! I keep my sun catcher in my window, where I can always see it. Every time it sparkles in the light of the magma, I think of all of you, the adventures we've shared, and the adventures we will share in the future."

"That's very insightful," Porom answered. "Oh, why can't you just live here, and never have to leave?"

All the supplies had been set up on a long table in their craft room; at the sight of all the color and various other things, the smaller children all ran to claim seats, excited to get started.

"Hold on, hold on," Ryida interrupted before they could get settled. "There are special things for all of you on the other end of the table, so come gather around with me."

She had volunteered to help the younger children with their easier projects, so Rosa could keep a concentrated eye on her glitter. There was a small mountain's worth of it, contained for now in separate jars; but between three teenagers, it would probably get out of hand, no matter what she did.

As it was, their reactions to the sparkling jars were all different. Luca was enchanted but unsure, because apparently they didn't have glitter in the Underworld. Porom was thrilled at the sight, because, please-it was a mountain of glitter. Palom made a face.

"Aw, geeze. Glitter? _Really_? Glitter's for girls!"

"Give me a chance, Palom," Rosa insisted. "That's what you said about knitting."

"Shhh! Not out loud!"

"Just sit down. You'll be surprised, and you'll have fun. You always do."

While the girls quietly giggled at his antics, he trudged to his seat and tried to ignored them.

"So, I thought we'd try our hand at repurposing some things," Rosa explained, holding up a shapely vase of clear glass. "I've done this at home. It's amazingly easy, and I like them very much. I also brought some plain jars and glasses to try it with, too."

"But that's for _girls_!" Palom moaned. "I wanna do something else!"

"I knew you'd say that. I thought of something just for you."

"What am I supposed to do with a bunch of glitter?"

In response to his whining, Rosa held up a paper bag and pulled out a clear glass bauble-the kind that was typically used to decorate evergreens during the winter holidays.

"We can all do this, but I thought you'd enjoy it the most. You cover the outside with glue, roll it in glitter, and place small candles inside. You hang them from hooks and use them for little lanterns, instead of lamplight. I've tried this one, too. Derek has them in his room, and he loves them. _And_," she added, pointing at a certain jar of glitter, "I brought plenty of red just for you."

"Huh," he said, looking a little more optimistic. "I guess that is pretty neat. Alright, I'll give it a shot."

Porom rolled her eyes. "Typical brother," she commented to Luca.

While he jumped at the mini lanterns, artfully creating patterns of flame on each one, the girls grabbed the vases and jars, contemplating what they might be filled with. Luca decided that one of her jars would hold her hairpins from now on; her hair was always a thick tangle that needed all the help she could get, so another container for pins was always welcome. Porom intended to fill her vase with flowers she had planted in the spring, which were coming up to be so beautiful, they deserved an equally beautiful vessel on her dresser.

Rosa happily joined them in their crafting, watching with amusement as they began improvising. Luca suddenly decided she needed a length of string, and ran to the other end of the table to take some. When she returned, she coated the string in glue and rolled it in purple glitter. Then she rolled a new jar in more glue, and wound the string around it in a random zigzag. The rest of the glue was covered in blue glitter, and then set to the side to dry. She sat back and gazed on her creation with pride and wonder, and sighed happily.

"This would make a nice lantern, too. Maybe for my bedside table? Yes, I think so."

"Not cooler than _my_ lanterns," Palom countered, setting another flame-glittered glass bauble with its brothers and sisters. "I'm putting these all around my window. And then I'll light them up at night while I study."

"That's a laugh," Porom said dryly. "You don't study."

"Yes, I do... Sometimes... I don't need to study. I'm a natural talent. Study is for people who need it."

"Luca, that was a great idea with the string. I think I'll do one like that, too! No more lamps for me," Porom decided, and went to collect some string for herself.

Rosa liked the idea too, and made a mental note to try it out sometime. She loved watching them coming up with their own ideas-they had so many, just waiting for a use. It seemed like they got much bigger than they should have every year...

Something tugged on her sleeve, and she looked down to see her seven year old son, Derek standing beside her with an indignant face.

"Mom, how come _they_ get to play with all the glitter?" He demanded. "They keep taking all our stuff! I wanna take some of their stuff! Can I have some glitter, please?"

"What for, son?"

"My lion needs some," he answered, holding up a creature he had made by twisting yellow yarn around some sticks. Rosa took it with a smile to look at it better.

"Oh, but I love him the way he is, sweetheart."

"But I want him to be bright and shiny, like dad! And I have a mom lion that needs to be shiny like you. So I need some glitter. Please, mom?"

Rosa was touched, but she knew better. Derek's last encounter with glitter had been a disaster; the servants were still finding hidden pockets of it all over his room. And all over themselves, for that matter. It had adhered nearly permanently to some of his clothes, and infected the washing water whenever they were laundered, thereby infecting everyone else's clothes. Glitter was suddenly all over the castle, like a virus that refused to go away. Castle Baron was enough a glittery mess thanks to the child; she wouldn't let Mysidia's immaculate citadel sucome to the same fate.

"How about we wait and do that later, when we get home?" She suggested instead.

"No! I want it now!" He insisted, and jumped at the jar of gold glitter by his mother's arm. The jar toppled over, and the gold flecks exploded over the table top. Some of it spilled into Rosa's lap and onto the floor. She strangled a frustrated scream, dreading the world's further infection.

"Derek! That was uncalled for!"

He backed down with an overwhelmingly apologetic face. At least the mess was mostly contained to the table, and nowhere else.

"Here, let me help you with that," Luca offered, reaching across the table to try and scoop up the gold. "I think I can use some of-Oops!"

Now the purple glitter had been knocked over, mingling inseparably with the gold. Luca jumped in surprise, accidentally elbowing Porom in the process.

"Watch out!" She cried, but it was too late. She had knocked over her green glitter as well, and some of it mixed itself with Palom's pile of red.

"Hey! I was using that," he snapped. "How am I supposed to use this now?"

Before he had quite finished speaking, he made an odd face. Exactly what Rosa feared would happen happened-he sneezed loudly, right into the mess on the table. The glitter flew up into the air, on the floor, and everywhere else it could seem to get.

At the other end of the table, Rydia had been watching in silent amusement as the situation spiraled out of control. She and the younger children also had a decent dusting of glitter on them now. There was a moment of silence from everyone as they observed how big the mess had suddenly grown.

"...Are you all okay over there?" The summoner finally, uselessly asked.

Rosa couldn't believe how much her friend had grown like her contrary husband. She also couldn't believe what had just happened, or how it had happened. Also covered in glitter, Porom stood up with a serious look on her face.

"Well, at least it wasn't Palom this time," she commented, cracking her knuckles. "Give me a second. I think I can have this cleaned up pretty easily."

She began chanting a medium-leveled spell.

"FLOAT!"

Under the influence of her spell, every speck of loose glitter rose up in the air to float level with her outreached hands. Every spilled color mingled together: puprle, green, red and gold, drifting in and out of each other like a consentrated, irridecent rainbow. She carefully directed the shimmering mass into a nice, contained sphere before her, and began chanting another spell.

"TELEPORT!"

And in a flash, the sparkling sphere was gone-just vanished into thin air. The younger children were all enchanted, and began to cheer and squeal with delight. Rosa checked herself over and found that none of the glitter had even been able to stick to her dress. It was an overwhelming relief. She was impressed by Porom's quick thinking; she never would have thought to use magic to get rid of the glitter virus.

"Hey, that was pretty clever," Palom said to his twin, standing up to give her a congratulatory pat on the back. "Good thinking, sis."

"As usual," she agreed.

"But I don't understand," Luca interjected. "Porom... Where did you send it all?"

"Um..." All of a sudden, Porom was blushing. "That's the part I'm not quite sure about yet..."

From somewhere fairly closeby, they all heard shouts of unpleasant surprise. And it sounded like the voices of the kings, back in the citadel's main hall.

"Oh dear..."

Porom's muttering didn't so the situation proper justice. Everyone ran out of the room toward the main hall, with the queens leading. They pushed the hall's closed doors open to reveal an astounding, amusing scene:

Apparently, the glitter had materialized above the next most easily recognizable place it could find-the long table where the kings were sitting, discussing matters of state. Every one of them was now drenched with the glittering mass that Porom had teleported away. All of them were rightly startled, but the Elder was very unhappy. He was pacing back and forth in a rage, multi-colored glitter showing from his head and shoulder as he stormed around.

"What is this?" He was angrily demanding of the ceiling. "Is this someone's idea of a joke? This is absoltely unacceptable!"

As the kings tried to shake themselves free of the glitter, Edge casually picked up a handful of it and let the access slip from his hands like sand. Then he turned to the nearest person-Edward, of all people-and playfully blew it right in his face.

"It suits you," the ninja commented with a devious grin, while Edward coughed and sputtered. He retaliated by swiping a handful of his own and tossing it back at Edge.

"You better than me!"

"Oh, you're dead," Edge snapped back, grabbing another handful while Edward jumped up and tried to run from the harmless attack.

The other kings began to laugh at the scene. Looking at her own husband, hoping he might restore some order, Rosa saw a clear look of mischeif on Cecil's face. He suddenly whipped his long white hair in an arc, sending a rain of glitter on his neighbors-Yang and Giott-and then darted away before they could pelt him with more, laughing uproariously all the way.

In the blink of an eye, the leaders of the world had become five year old children again, running around and throwing glitter at each other. The Elder watched them with his mouth hanging open, unimpressed.

"Stop this nonsense at once!" He thundered at them. "You're making it worse!"

"Oh, I think not, my good man," Giott bellowed back. "This is the most fun I've had in the Overworld in a good long while!"

Rosa and Rydia went on watching all this in disbelief, still unnoticed in the commotion, and probably hard to see from behind the cloud of glitter that had taken over the room. Rosa felt her son tugging her sleeve again, and glared down at him.

"Mom, can I go play with them?"

"No! Go to your room!"

"But..."

"When we get home, you're grounded, young man! You're grounded!"

"Rosa!"

She looked up to find that Cecil had finally noticed her; but he was laughing too hard to possibly be angry.

"Honey, I think we need to have a talk about your big bag of fun later," he called to her, laughing too hard to stop. It was a wonder he wasn't chocking to death on the sparkling cloud around him. While his guard was lowered, Edward ran up behind him and threw another handful of glitter at his back. Then they were off again.

"Get back here, spoony!"

"Stop calling me that!"

Rosa was still dumbfounded, but Rydia was chuckling to herself.

"So it was a happy ending, after all."

Porom came up beside them and sighed with a lopsided smile. "I guess I'll have to clean this up again, later. For now, I'll let them have their fun. Boy, this place is a mess..."

"Porom, why in earth did you send it all here?" Rosa asked.

"I just meant to get it out of the way. I guess it decided for itself where it wanted to go. Glitter has a mind of its own, you know; you don't need 13 years to figure that one out."

That was true enough, though Rosa had never thought of it that way before. On her other side, Palom sniffled loudly.

"I think I've got glitter up my nose..."

So they were all truely infected with the hardest fever to sweat out.

"Everyone, I solemnly promise I will _never_ bring glitter again."

"Please do," Rydia answered quickly. "Maybe next year, the boys can join us for craft day. Look how happy they are."

"Hm..."

Somewhere behind her, Luca giggled.

"Best craft day ever," she said.

In spite of it all, Rosa silently agreed. Maybe this was her best idea ever.


End file.
